Wednesday, May 24, 2017

My botox experience at ASI Skin at Aesthetic Surgery Ireland!

Botox. It's like Fight Club in that the first rule about botox is that you don't talk about botox. But you know what, any time I mentioned getting it to people, they had lots of questions and couldn't believe I was admitting to them I'd gotten it done. But sure listen, people get it done every day and I'd have loved a blog post like this while I was doing my research. So this is going to be much more than a before and after photoshoot, but spoiler alert, I love the results.

So yes, I turned 40 last December, so am a proper grown ass adult now which terrifies me. Now I'm not going to toot my own horn, but I have good skin, I've very few wrinkles and don't think I look my age. I certainly don't act it! I've never had lines going across my forehead and the reasons for this are twofold.
1. I really do my best to look after my skin and I think my forehead and I are the better for it.
2. I have an absolutely massive skull that hats don't fit and so my skin is naturally stretched over it. Either way, my forehead has never really been an issue for me.

But my frown lines have been bothering me for a while. I'd become good at looking annoyed at things because I felt my elevenses (that's what a few people called them on Snapchat when we were chatting about it a while back) were really pronounced and it's something I was aware of in photos, especially when I took close up photos of my eye areas.

Before & after

Over the years I've been offered botox from a few different places and each time I've turned them down. I've got serious trust issues with people I don't know anything about coming at me with needles. So earlier this year, one of my friends found out about the blog and asked if I'd be interested in getting something done with her in her private clinic in ASI Skin at Aesthetic Surgery Ireland, the same place I got the Image peel done. Now, Caitriona Ryan is an absolute super doctor. Actually, she's a Super Doctor. I'm pretty sure she wears a costume under her clothes every day. I've known her for 9 years now and after reading her bio section on her website, I needed to sit down and reevaluate my life. She's achieved a ridiculous amount in her career so far and the highlight of my life is if I've managed not to spill coffee on myself for more than two days in a row. Anyway, I knew if I was going to trust anyone with my face, it was going to be her, hands down.

I spoke at length to Caitriona about what I wanted, what I didn't want, what I was afraid of and she explained in detail how it all worked. If you've watched any of my videos on YouTube or follow me on Snapchat, you'll know I've a very expressive face and didn't want to lose that, so that's something we talked about in depth and Caitriona explained how she'd go about making sure that didn't happen. Another fear I had was a bit of a weird one - what if I felt claustrophobic in my face? Does that even make sense?! Totally weird, but I wondered what it was going to feel like not being able to move certain parts of my face and because botox isn't reversible, what if I was left feeling weird for months? Yes lads, these are the thoughts that go through my head and why I have nervous cramps all the time.

On the big day, Caitriona injected above each brow on the outer half of it to lift the eyes slightly and as someone with hooded eyes, I was looking forward to seeing how that worked. I totally didn't know that was a thing. She did a bit under my eyes where my laugh lines are but not too much so I can still smize like a good thing. She did a few bits at the top of my forehead and then it was time for the big guns. My frown lines.

There was a tiny pinch when the needle punctured the skin with the barest amount of pressure as the liquid was injected. On a scale of 1-10, the injections on my frown lines were a 2 and the injections under the eyes on my laugh lines were a 3-4. But it was over in a couple of seconds and that was it. It took about ten minutes in total and if I'd wanted, I could've gone back to work that day as I'd no redness or swelling. I didn't look any different and was still able to move my face in exactly the same way as before.

I drove home and followed Catriona's instructions by making faces using the muscles in the areas that had been injected. I looked demented but sure that's nothing new! As the afternoon went on, I kept checking my face out in the mirror and then took a notion and felt like my eyes looked and felt even more hooded. I didn't know if I was being paranoid, but then I remembered that I had 11,000 photos of my face from every angle on the computer, so I took a close up photo of my eyes and compared it to older photos. Yeah, my eyes were exactly the same and this is why I shouldn't be let out of the house. I was freaking myself out for no reason.

Me frowning & me trying to frown

As the days went on, I kept checking my forehead out to see if I could feel or see any changes. On day 5, I could start to feel things starting to happen and the best way I can describe it is like this - You know if you've used a face wash that's left your skin feeling dry and tight? That's how my forehead felt for a few days. There was no discomfort or pain in the slightest, just that slight tight feeling that went away after a few days.

Because we work together, Caitriona was able to keep a close eye on me and every couple of days would pop into the office, ask me to make a few faces, congratulate me on not spilling my coffee all over myself and head off to do all the things. She always brings patients back after two weeks to see how things are going and to see if any areas need any extra botox. After the two weeks were up, I'd already decided that I was going to tell her that I didn't want any more and before I'd a chance to say it to her, she had a look at me, got me to move my forehead and said she wouldn't put any more in. I think it took about two and a half weeks for things to finally settle properly and two months later, I still absolutely love the result lads.

One of my favourite things was that I didn't come home from Spain with deep frown lines after being in the sun for the week. It's usually something I'm so aware of after a trip but I loved having a smooth forehead.

What I liked so much about the treatment was that it was the perfect amount of botox where I could see the difference, but hardly anyone else could. Only one person on Snapchat asked me if I'd gotten it done, one of my friends asked me and said she only knew because she'd gotten it done and lads, at the time of this post going live, I still haven't told my Mam. I KNOW! I'm 40, she lives with me and I'm scared she's going to kill me, so c'mere if you know her in real life, say nothing! I told my brother and Claire last weekend and they didn't believe me! UPDATE!! After I set the blog post live last night I told her and she didn't kill me, phew! She also can't believe she didn't notice it and was asking if I'd gotten it done before the holidays this month. I had to tell her I'd gotten it done at the end of March... Some day I won't be afraid of her!

It's exactly what I wanted. I wanted the creases ironed out of my frown lines, to still have lots of movement in my face and for it to look natural. I've had it for two months now and am looking forward to seeing how long it lasts. It varies from person to person so I'll keep you updated.